Meet Rukayat Shittu, 26-year-old who won a seat in Kwara Assembly

Rukayat Shittu, a 26-year-old lady, was on Sunday declared winner of the state house of assembly election to represent Owode/Onire Constituency Asa Local Government Area of Kwara State.

According to Hakeem Ijaya, returning officer for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the 26-year-old, who ran on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 7,521 votes to defeat her rival from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who received 6,957 votes in the Saturday’s House of Assembly election.

She is among some of the youngest to be elected into such position in recent times in the country.

Rukayat Shittu, born on the 6th of June 1996 is a village girl, from Manyan village, Onire District in Asa local government area of Kwara State.

The 26-year-old APC Kwara State House of Assembly candidate is a successful media practitioner with Just Event Online media.

Rukayat attended Baptist LGEA School, Surulere in Ilorin between 1999 – 2005 and later continued her education at Government Day Secondary School, Otte in Asa local government between 2005 to 2008.

During one of her weekend travels to Ilorin from her school in Otte, she was involved in an accident, which claimed several lives.

She was one of the few survivors, though not without life-threatening injury. The scar on her lips is a part of her survival story.

Rukayat completed her Senior Secondary School Education at the Government Girls Day Secondary School, Oko Erin, Ilorin in 2011.

In 2012, she got admission to the Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies affiliated with Bayero University then, Kano where she obtained her diploma certificate in Mass Communication and Islamic Studies in 2015.

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In furtherance of her youthful engagements, she decided to learn fashion designing, while in 2017 she got an admission to the National Open University Of Nigeria (NOUN) and graduated from the department of Mass Communication in 2022.

During her undergraduate study at the National Open University of Nigeria, she combines studies with volunteering and entrepreneurship.

She also served in many capacities during her undergraduate days.

She functioned as the first female Senate president for Congress of National Open University of Nigeria Students (CONS) which covers about 85 study centers across the federation and also represented her study center (Kulende, Ilorin Study Centre) at the National level.

Rukayat is a member of the leading pro-democracy group, fashion enthusiast, entrepreneur, and advocate for women’s and girlchild’s rights in society.

Presently, she is the youngest member of Kwara state House of Assembly, Owode/Onire Constituency